Several Trojans honored with CVAC soccer awards

BELMONT -- Mount Olive College forward Cory Worrell was named Men's Soccer Player of the Year and was one of six Trojan players to earn all-conference honors as the 2004 All-Carolinas-Viginia Athletics Conference Men's Soccer Team was announced during ceremonies at the CVAC Men's Soccer Tournament at Belmont Abbey College.

Joining Worrell on the first team were midfielder Warren Atkins and defender Michael Garrett. Forward Reid Clewis and midfielder Charles Williams were named to the second team, while goalkeeper Chris Roush earned honorable mention.

Worrell, a senior from Goldsboro, leads the conference and ranks ninth in the nation with 23 goals this season. A second-team selection last year, Worrell has scored at least one goal in 15 of 20 matches. Worrell earned CVAC Player of the Week honors in week one and has had seven multi-goal games. The Trojans are 12-1-2 this year when Worrell scores.

Atkins, a senior from Silver Spring, Md., led the nation in assists per game at one time during the season and entered the tournament ranked No. 6. Atkins, who was named to the All-CVAC second team as a sophomore, recorded 16 assists this season. He also earned CVAC Player of the Week honors this season.

Garrett, a sophomore from Swansboro, helped Mount Olive's defense hold opponents to 1.12 goals per game, second-best in the conference. In 20 matches this season, only five opponents scored more than one goal against the Trojans, which recorded five shutouts. Garrett started every match until suffering a season-ending injury in the Trojans' regular season finale last Saturday at Lees-McRae.

Clewis, a junior from Wilmington, ranks second in the conference with 12 goals, 10 assists and 34 points. Clewis was named CVAC Player of the Week in the second week of the season. He opened the season with back-to-back two-goal games and scored in seven of his first nine matches this season.

Williams, a sophomore from Richlands, has been part of a Mount Olive defense that has allowed only 1.12 goals per game. He has also been part of the Trojans' attack, scoring three goals and four assists this season. Williams has started in all 20 matches.

Roush, a freshman from Hubert, ranks second in the CVAC and 30th in the nation with a 0.93 goals against average. Roush posted three shutouts on the season and played 88 of 90 minutes in Mount Olive's 4-0 first-round victory over Barton.

Mount Olive and Lees-McRae tied with six players apiece on the All-CVAC Team. Kenny Epps of Queens was named Freshman of the Year, while Queens head coach Fred Norchi was named Coach of the Year.

BELMONT -- Mount Olive head women's soccer coach Chris Shaw was named Women's Soccer Coach of the Year and six Trojans earned all-conference honors as the 2004 All-Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference Women's Soccer Team was announced during ceremonies at the CVAC Women's Soccer Tournament at Belmont Abbey College.

Defender April Jacobs earned first team honors, while forwards Melanie Cobb and Gina Dos Santos and midfielders Kate Painter and Heidi Philip were all named to the second team. Goalkeeper Heather Ressler became the Trojans' first-ever two-time women's soccer All-CVAC selection, earning honorable mention.

In his second year at Mount Olive, Shaw engineered the greatest one-year turnaround in NCAA Division II women's soccer history. The Trojans are 19-3-0 overall and finished 8-2-0 in the CVAC this season after going 3-15-0 overall and 0-11-0 in the conference last year. Prior to this season, Mount Olive had reached the CVAC Tournament only three times in the 10-year history of the school's women's soccer program. Shaw and the Trojans performed the turnaround with as many as eight freshmen in the starting lineup.

Jacobs, a freshman from Fayetteville, was part of a defense that posted 11 shutouts this season and allowed more than one goal in only three matches this season. Jacobs has also been a force on the offensive end with seven goals and nine assists.

Cobb, a sophomore from Richlands, ranks third in the nation with 27 goals, including three goals in her first two conference tournament matches. She is a three-time CVAC Women's Soccer Player of the Week, the first CVAC women's soccer player to accomplish the feat in at least eight years. She has 10 multi-goal games this season, including four hat tricks. She had an eight-game goal-scoring streak during the season, tied for the seventh-longest in NCAA II women's soccer history.

Dos Santos, a freshman from Whitehall, Pa., also had an eight-game goal-scoring streak this season. Dos Santos has 18 goals on the season, with 12 coming in her last 11 matches, including a hat trick against North Carolina Wesleyan. Dos Santos also earned a Player of the Week award this season.

Painter, a freshman from London, Ontario, ranks fifth in the CVAC in assists with 11, including two assists in the Trojans' first-round 4-1 victory over Limestone. She also scored her third goal of the season in Mount Olive's 2-0 semifinal victory over Pfeiffer.

Philip, a freshman from Saylorsburg, Pa., ranks third in the nation in assists with 16. She recorded five assists in one match this season, which is tied for the second-highest single-game assists total in NCAA II women's soccer history. Philip scored her sixth goal of the season in the Trojans' first-round victory Tuesday.

Ressler, a senior from Gahanna, Ohio, posted a school-record 10 shutouts this season, including a shutout over Pfeiffer in the CVAC Tournament semifinals. Her 0.71 goals against average is the 24th-lowest in the nation. A four-year starter at goalkeeper, Ressler also earned All-CVAC honorable mention during her sophomore year in 2002.

Prior to this season, Ressler was Mount Olive's only women's soccer all-conference selection. This year, the Trojans led all teams with six All-CVAC selections. Katie Bastura of Pfeiffer was named Player of the Year, while Jill Barnes of Belmont Abbey captured Freshman of the Year honors.